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->''"Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything."''-->-- '''Marv''', "The Hard Goodbye"

'''''Sin City''''' is an irregular comic book series about the [[WretchedHive venal]] Basin City (known as "Sin City" to the people who live there) and the seedy inhabitants who lurk in its alleys and doorways. It is probably writer/artist FrankMiller's best known work (other than ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'').

Infamous for its [[RefugeInAudacity absurdly]] [[RatedMForManly macho writing]], ''Sin City'' reads like an AffectionateParody of FilmNoir turned UpToEleven: [[WorldOfBadass every hero is a mentally or physically scarred bruiser]] and [[WorldOfBuxom every woman is a beautiful dame with a heaving bosom]]. BlackAndGrayMorality is predominant.

The series's other defining attribute is its artwork, which is largely black and white, with [[SplashOfColour occasional spot colouring for certain important characters]]. Miller plays heavily with silhouettes, [[{{Chiaroscuro}} high-contrast images]] and negative space to create a series of visually striking images that look like no other comic on the market.

Because it is almost exclusively set in and around Basin City's criminal underworld, ''Sin City'' has a number of recurring characters, although the protagonists vary from story to story. Additionally, [[ContinuityOverlap some plotlines overlap or weave together]] in subtle ways (''The Hard Goodbye'' and ''A Dame to Kill For'' are both mostly set on the same night, with the protagonists driving past one another in a single scene in both comics).

The currently available collected editions are, in order:

'''1: The Hard Goodbye''' - Originally just titled ''Sin City'' until the film adaptation, this story follows Marv, a street thug prone to psychotic episodes, who falls in love with a beautiful prostitute one night, only to find her dead the following morning and the cops beating down his door to take him in for her murder. On his quest for vengeance, Marv shakes down the criminal underworld, does battle with corrupt cops and discovers a sick conspiracy.

'''2: A Dame to Kill For''' - Dwight [=McCarthy=], a freelance photographer with a vicious temper, is pissed off when his beautiful ex -- Ava, the dame of the title -- contacts him out of the blue. But his anger is allayed when he discovers that her life has been threatened. With time running out, Dwight must save Ava from her cruel husband and his bizarre manservant. But is Ava what she appears to be, or is Dwight being manipulated into making the biggest mistake of his life?

'''3: The Big Fat Kill''' - Dwight gets into more trouble when his new girlfriend, Shelly, is harassed by her abusive ex-boyfriend, Jackie-Boy. Dwight chases after him, but can only watch as Jackie and his pals are killed by prostitutes for threatening to rape one of their number. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem -- the prostitutes of Old Town are given free rein by the police -- but Jackie has a dangerous secret, one that might tear Sin City apart.

'''4: That Yellow Bastard''' - [[KnightInSourArmor John Hartigan]] may well be Sin City's last decent cop, but not for long: It's his last day on the job. But Hartigan's refusing to go quietly, especially since a well-connected young serial killer/rapist has just kidnapped little Nancy Callahan. It's no big thing -- Hartigan's spent his entire life taking down scum like him. But this time, there will be repercussions...

'''5: Family Values''' - While picking up some intel for his ''new'' new girlfriend, Dwight learns of a mafia war that's about to go down in Sin City. Captured by one side of the impending war, Dwight has to rely on a certain enemy-turned ally for help: the deadly ninja Miho.

'''6: Booze, Broads and Bullets''' - A collection of short stories from various sources, including back-up strips from the early issues of ''The Big Fat Kill'' and stories from the various ''Sin City'' one-shot specials.

'''7: Hell and Back (A Sin City Love Story)''' - Wallace is an interesting guy: an artist, a war hero, a short order cook and a lightning-quick fighter. His life is pretty dull, though, until he saves a suicidal woman named Esther and they begin a tentative relationship. In typical ''Sin City'' style, however, Esther is kidnapped and Wallace must pull the city -- and the lives of some of its most privileged men -- apart to get her back.

!!Films

Several of the ''Sin City'' comics were turned into an anthology film by director Creator/RobertRodriguez, simply called '''''Sin City''''', which was released in 2005.

Rodriguez quit the Director's Guild to let Frank Miller take co-director status. Even his friend Creator/QuentinTarantino was given a co-director credit, since he came over on a day of shooting to film a scene. Rodriguez shot the film panel-for-panel from the comics, using black and white footage and GreenScreen backgrounds to get the perfect ''Sin City'' feel.

The ''Sin City'' film comprised ''The Hard Goodbye'', ''The Big Fat Kill'' and ''That Yellow Bastard'' and was bookended by an adaptation of "The Customer is Always Right", a short story featured in the ''Booze, Broads and Bullets'' collection.

A sequel, '''''Sin City: A Dame To Kill For''''', was released in August 2014, and at least one more ''Sin City'' film is planned. Originally, the first sequel was planned to include the titular story, along with a brand-new sequel to ''That Yellow Bastard'' and the three ''Blue Eyes'' short stories. The final film drops the ''Blue Eyes'' stories for a second original story and another ''Booze, Broads and Bullets'' yarn, "Just Another Saturday Night".

The other sequel will be centered around ''Hell and Back''. Both films were originally scheduled for a 2008 release, but were in DevelopmentHell for seven years until [[http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2012/04/sin-city-2-is-go-at-last.html 2012, when they were]] SavedFromDevelopmentHell. Sadly, the recent deaths of two important actors - Creator/BrittanyMurphy (Shelly) and Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan (Manute) - and the disappearance of Devon Aoki (Miho) from acting caused [[TheOtherDarrin some difficulties]]. (Duncan and Aoki have been replaced by Dennis Haysbert and [[http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/229/files/2014/07/Sin-City-A-Dame-to-Kill-For-Miko-590x900.jpg Jamie Chung]] respectively, with Jeremy Piven taking over from Creator/MichaelMadsen as Bob).

The second film contains two original storylines not shown in the comics.

'''1: The Long Bad Night''' - Johnny is a young man with charm and great skill at slots and card games. Looking to make a name for himself in Sin City, he crashes a private poker game hosted by Senator Roark and cleans him out. However, considering who he just beat, Johnny's luck might not last the night.

'''2: Nancy's Last Dance''' - Four years after "That Yellow Bastard", Nancy still can't come to terms with Hartigan's suicide. She plunges into a self destructive spiral until she decides on what she must do. She has to kill the man responsible for Hartigan's death: the infamous Senator Roark himself.

Not to be confused with VideoGame/SimCity, which is [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential potentially]] a whole lot nicer. Or [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity GTA Vice City]], which is ''definitely not'' all that nicer. Or UsefulNotes/LasVegas, for that matter.

----!!''Sin City'' contains examples of:

Since the film is such a direct adaptation of the comicbooks, listing the tropes separately probably won't be necessary.

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[[folder:A-F]]* AcceptableTargets: In-universe. Marv notes that he loves [[ProfessionalKiller hitmen]], because he can torture and kill them all he wants without ever feeling bad about it.* AdaptationalAttractiveness:** An odd villain example. In the comic, the cannibalistic serial killer Kevin was a [[http://www.esensja.pl/obrazki/ilustracje//21996_kto-jest-kim-Sin-City-6-300.jpg pudgy, middle-aged man with a five o' clock shadow and receding hairline]]. He ended up being played by Creator/ElijahWood in the film. However, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse this probably makes him even eerier]], since it's quite an inversion of [[BeautyEqualsGoodness how this is usually played]].** Bob, a short, fat man, is played by Michael Madsen, and the even fatter Senator Roark played by [[AwesomeMcCoolName Powers]] [[BadassMoustache Boothe]].* AdaptationalModesty:** Nancy does not dance topless in the film due to a no-nudity clause from Creator/JessicaAlba.** Dwight appears naked at the start of the original comic ''The Big Fat Kill'', while he's practically fully clothed in the film.** The Yellow Bastard is naked when torturing Nancy near the end of his story. He was given shorts in the film.** Gail is naked when Manute kidnaps her in ''The Big Fat Kill'', but is wearing clothing in the film.* AdaptationInducedPlotHole:** The movie moves Dwight's "Most people think Marv is crazy" monologue from ''A Dame to Kill For'' to ''The Hard Goodbye''. This works fine in a standalone movie, but in the comics the chronology of that night is very well fleshed out. Its revealed that while Marv was drinking at Kadie's after Goldie's murder two cops were questioning Shellie about Dwight's whereabouts. At that point in the story Dwight is recovering from events in his own story, so he couldn't be anywhere near Kadie's that night. Furthermore, he underwent plastic surgery which gave Dwight his appearance in the movie but that only happened ''months'' after the events of ''The Hard Goodbye'', at which point Marv [[spoiler:was on Death Row.]] It seems the films has addressed this by altering the timeline to make the entirety of ''Dame to Kill For'' take place before ''Hard Goodbye''.** There's also The Salesman, the assassin from "The Customer is Always Right," who later [[spoiler:becomes The Colonel, the BigBad of ''Hell and Back'']]. Since [[spoiler:The Colonel is dead by BoomHeadshot (and quite deservedly so) at the end of ''Hell and Back'']] and the events of ''[[spoiler:The Big Fat Kill]]'' take place after that story, the Salesman doing to [[spoiler:Becky]] what he did to his "customer" in the other story at the very end of the film adaptation can't exactly happen in Sin City canon unless [[spoiler:someone else is the Colonel in the film adaptation of ''Hell and Back'']].** The first movie has a newspaper near the end of ''The Hard Goodbye'' showing a headline involving [[spoiler: Senator Roark denouncing the death of his brother]]. The second movie has as a major plot point [[spoiler: Nancy's RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Senator Roark]]...with Marv's help--thus clearly setting that story '''before''' ''The Hard Goodbye''.*** While we're on the subject of the ''A Dame To Kill For'' film adaptation, some liberties taken with a specific scene have created ''another'' plot hole. Originally, the rookie cops chasing [[spoiler: Dwight and Marv]] into Old Town end up with their car riddled with bullets, but manage to run off on foot and avoid being killed. In the film, however, one of the girls flat out torches them with a flamethrower before they can get away. This...doesn't even begin to match up with the logic and rules set up in ''The Big Fat Kill'', where the '''entire truce''' between Old Town and the police is threatened because [[spoiler: a corrupt cop is killed by the girls of Old Town]].----> '''Klump (to Shlubb):''' "I can only express puzzlement that borders on alarm."* AdaptedOut: Shellie was cut from ''A Dame to Kill For'', probably because Frank Miller thought Brittany Murphy was perfect as the character and she wasn't very important to the new stories anyway.* AlasPoorVillain: In ''Hell and Back'', Wallace feels some pity after he kills Deliah, the contract killer who tried to seduce and kill him, calling her a "strange, sad creature", before silently closing her eyes.* TheAlcoholic: Jackie Boy seems to be one and Dwight is a recovering case. Nancy becomes an alcoholic dancer after Hartigan's suicide.* AlienBlood: The Yellow Bastard has yellow blood, though this is more of a stylistic choice than an indication of alien-ness. Either that, or it's because of [[spoiler: the large amount of medical procedures done on him after [[FridgeHorror his castration messed with his body's ability to get rid of waste]] - the blood, given its color and smell, is a direct result of that.]]* TheAllegedCar: Nancy's car. "No one but me can keep this heap running." Also the clapped out banger without enough space for all the bodies or enough fuel to get them to the tar pits and a cop-attracting broken tail-light. Also the battered old VW Beetle from ''Family Values''. The ironic thing is, The Heap is a 1957 Chevrolet Nomad, a very desirable car, and the car Dwight is given to ditch at the Pits was a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, both {{Cool Car}}s. Part of Dwight's narration mentions that it once was a Cool Car, but after years of abuse and neglect, it became a clapped out banger at the end of its life.* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Subverted with Shellie. She dumps the abusive boyfriend Jackie Boy and goes for the much nicer Dwight [=McCarthy=]. But as readers know, Dwight's no angel either, and he even killed a former FemmeFatale girlfriend in a previous issue--but he's still a far cry from the sexist scumbag that Jackie-Boy was.* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The Japanese theme is [[http://www.wat.tv/video/namie-amuro-violet-sauce-best-1z694_2ey5f_.html "Violet Sauce"]] by Namie Amuro.* AlwaysIdenticalTwins:** Marv talks about a pair of twin prostitutes who "even smell the same." Then again, Marv is crazy enough that he mistakes one for the other... even while knowing full well that one of them is dead.** There's also Benny and Lenny, Rourke Junior's bodyguards, although they don't last long.* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Subverted. At the end of The Big Fat Kill, Dwight [[spoiler: tricks Manute and his men that Gail is all he wants in exchange for Jackie Boys head. The head was filled with explosives, and as soon as it goes off, every girl from Old Town shows up on the rooftops and fires every bullet they have into Manute and his men]].* AManIsNotAVirgin: Subverted. Marv tells Wendy that due to his looks, he wasn't even able to buy a woman before the night with Goldie that started it all.* AnachronicOrder: The comics were published in anachronic order, and the segments of the film are shown anachronically as well.* AndShowItToYou: The natural conclusion of Marv's brutal interrogation technique.* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler: Right before Nancy caps Senator Roark at the end of "Nancy's Last Dance", she says "This is for John Hartigan, fucker!"]]* AntagonistTitle: ''That Yellow Bastard'' refers to Hartigan's antagonist, the serial killing, child molesting Roark Jr. whom he must destroy to protect Nancy. It's the form Roark ended up as after the experimental treatment his corrupt father paid for to regrow his penis.* AntiHero: Every damned protagonist. Most of them are straight on Type [=IVs=] who like to PayEvilUntoEvil.* AntiVillain: Liebowitz to some small extent. He's as corrupt of a cop as any other and beats up Hartigan for not not signing a false confession. Despite this, he is a devoted family man [[spoiler: and is willing to turn on the Colonel, going so far as to kill him]]. In that instance, he's probably the only sympathetic villain in the entire series.** In the the second film, Liebowitz goes out of his way to warn Johnny to leave the city after he beats Roark in a poker game.* AnyoneCanDie: Many heroes and villains are offed in both movies. Hartigan and Marv who are two of the three main heroes end up dying. Senator Roark {{Lampshades}} this in the second film by saying sooner or later everybody dies in Sin City, which is an ironic line [[spoiler: considering his fate at the end of the film.]]* ArtEvolution: In the first few issues of A Hard Goodbye the characters and backgrounds are drawn with more realistic proportions and with subtler shading, looking more like a standard black and white comic. By the end of the book the art is crystallized into the high-contrast, over-exaggerated, blocky artwork that became the standard of the series.* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Herr Wallenquist (AKA The Kraut), the German crime lord. "Wallenquist" is a Swedish name.* AssShove: Jackie Boy falls on Miho's swastika shuriken and gets it stuck in his ass. In ''The Big Fat Kill'', Miho apparently shoves her katana up a merc's ass (in the movie, she just stabs him through the back).%%* AStormIsComing* AteHisGun:** Hartigan does this in ''The Yellow Bastard'' when he realises that his bum ticker is giving out and wants to make sure there is no way for the Roarks to use him to find Nancy.** Mort does this in a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment after he kills Bob in ''A Dame to Kill For''.* AuthorAppeal: FrankMiller sure does have a thing for prostitutes, and Sin City is stretching this so far that there is a part of the city that is run by prostitutes. Similarly, count how many times the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi swastika]] appears.** This is why the series exists. When he was trying to break into the industry Miller's samples were all noir but the industry wanted superheroes so thats what he did, sidelining his crime stories. By the time ''Sin City'' was made Miller hadn't drawn a comic in years and decided to finally make the sort of story he wasn't allowed to do and fill it with stuff he loved to draw. For instance, the Tar Pits are just an excuse for him to draw dinosaurs.* AwesomeButImpractical: The CoolCar Ferrari. Lampshaded by Shlubb and Klump.* BackAlleyDoctor: Christopher Lloyd's role in ''The Long Bad Night''. It is entirely possible he is the same doctor Marv mentions in ''A Dame to Kill For''.* BackupTwin: [[spoiler: Goldie and Wendy]].* {{Badass}}: Everyone.* BadassLongcoat: Most of the characters wear one and Marv trades up for new ones all the time. If Marv ever says to you "''That's a damn fine coat you're wearing''", you'd better hand your coat over and he might leave you breathing if he's in a generous mood.* BadCopIncompetentCop: A sizeable portion of the Basin City police, but the rest are as completely honest.* BaldOfAwesome: Dwight, before he changed his identity.* BaldOfEvil: Manute, Wallenquist, Liebowitz, Cardinal Roark, and the Yellow Bastard. There was also a bald bad evil rich guy with an odd sense of [[ParentalIncest family values]] in the short story ''Daddy's Girl'' (though it's unclear if they are actually related or are a couple with an incest fetish).* BaldOfAwesome: Dwight fits this at first but he later grows his hair out.* BandOfBrothels: The ladies are the law in Old Town.* BatmanGambit: Quite a few:** Goldie seduced Marv so that she would have someone to protect her... or at least avenge her death.** The story of ''Family Values'' is Dwight pulling one big BatmanGambit.** Wallace turns into Batman himself at the mid-point of ''To Hell And Back'', [[spoiler: turning the Colonel's own CorruptCop against him and calling several favors from friends in order to destroy the military helicopter the Colonel was using against him.]]** Dwight's revenge against Ava Lord.** Dwight's actions at the end of ''Big Fat Kill''.* BattleButler: Manute.* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Both in the sense of "body" and "soul" for Nancy. In ''Nancy's Last Dance'', she puts herself through all kinds of degradation--drinking on stage, driving herself mad with rage and grief, cutting (and apparently dyeing) her hair, and cutting her own face to motivate Marv. Frankly, her last line in the film seems to imply she may not be able to return to her normal life.... However, Marv's presence emphasizes that this takes place before ''The Hard Goodbye''--in which we see her back on stage, fully restored to her former glory.* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Marv's reason for going through hell and high water for Goldie.* BerserkButton: Dissing Goldie in front of Marv, as the Padre and Cardinal Rourke find out.--> '''Marv:''' It's not a good idea to be talkin' about Goldie like that when I'm around.* BetterThanSex: A hit man in "Family Values" says this about DualWielding Uzis.* BewareTheNiceOnes: Wallace is extremely polite and soft spoken. He's also probably the deadliest person in Sin City... which says something.** Even Marv can be a pretty jolly guy who's fun to be around. Just don't piss him off... [[TooDumbToLive ever.]]* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Bob in That Yellow Bastard]].* BigBraToFill: Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan.%%* BigElectricSwitch* BittersweetEnding: This is the best kind of ending you're gonna get in Sin City. Only on occasion will this be [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] in lieu of a more "happy" ending--such as in [[spoiler: ''The Big Fat Kill'' (all the villains are gunned down and the mob is humiliated)]] or [[spoiler: ''Hell and Back'' (Wallace and his love interest beat the villains and leave Sin City).]]* BlackAndGrayMorality No one in Sin City is good. Some folks are better than others, but none are good. Even the best of them like Dwight, Hartigan, and Wallace are GoodIsNotNice. Granted though, this [[InvincibleHero isn't as clear]] in the first film adaptation.%%* BlackBlood* BlitheSpirit: Nancy acts as this, not only to Marv and Hartigan, but to [[PuritySue the series as a whole.]]* BloodierAndGorier: The film adaptation of Marv and Manute's fight actually shows Marv ripping out his eye, while the book just showed Marv beating him.** In the comics, [[spoiler: Lucille's]] severed hand is wrapped up in bandages. In the movie, we see the stitched up stump.%%* BloodyHilarious* BookEnds** Though several examples exist, [[spoiler: Hartigan's concluding speeches in the film's second and penultimate chapters are especially notable, as both close with Hartigan getting shot and losing everything so Nancy can live.]]** In the movie, the Salesman from "The Customer is Always Right", which opens the film, reappears in the final scene. * BornInTheWrongCentury: Dwight suggests that Marv would have had a better life in ancient times, as a warrior on the field of battle or a gladiator in the Roman arena.** Also, Hartigan is one of the last honest cops in Basin City. He appears to belong to a better age, and follows his own code of morals and honour, when no-one else does.* BottomlessMagazines: In the first part of the film version of "That Yellow Bastard," [[spoiler: Hartigan's partner, Bob]], shoots him 8 times with a 6 shot revolver without being seen reloading.%%* BreadEggsMilkSquick* BreakingTheBonds: Marv did this while being tortured by the girls of Old Town and managed to not let anyone see it.** Hartigan did it [[spoiler: in a HopeSpot fantasy sequence while being beaten by a CorruptCop.]]* BulletproofHumanShield: In the film, a federal agent is used as a shield while Marv hacks up his teammates with a wood axe. This actually seems to be unintentional on Marv's part since he was busy killing one of the agents when the human shield ran into the path of the bullets.* ButForMeItWasTuesday: A major theme of the series is the act of seemingly random violence happening to the wrong person at the wrong time, resulting in the AntiHero taking revenge. The BigBad in these situations often thought nothing of the crime and may not have even initially known the names of their victims.** A notable example takes place in ''Family Values'' where the mafia breaks a truce with a rival organization to take revenge for the death of a relative of TheDon. Everyone involved is worried about a gang war. It turns out [[spoiler:a hooker was killed by a stray bullet. No one thought much about it, except her friends and colleagues, who quickly gather to plot revenge.]]* CallBack: In "The Hard Goodbye", Marv says that he loves the rain, because it helps him think. In "The Big Fat Kill", Dwight says he hates the rain, because it makes it hard to think.** Another one happens during Marv's story, where he says "This isn't some bar room brawl...Or some creep with a gas can tryin' to torch some wino!" The second line in particular references the main plot of "Just Another Saturday Night", [[CaptainObvious where he fights some 'creeps' who try to torch a 'wino']]. * CallForward: In the opening teaser story, "Just Another Saturday Night", for ''Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'', Marv is commented on his Bernini brand trenchcoat by one of the frat boys that he believed accosted him. This sets up the RunningGag of Marv getting a new trenchcoat each time its ruined or destroyed.--> '''Marv''': ''(Looking at his coat)'' Bernini, huh? And a fine coat it ''is''....** ''Nancy's Last Dance'' emphasizes the depth of the bond between Nancy and Marv--which in turn gives new depth to Marv's lines in ''The Hard Goodbye'' about how there's nothing Nancy wouldn't do for him, and how it really "gets my goat" when dames like Nancy are "roughed up".* CapitalismIsBad: Of the Black Market Opportunism type. Basin City is terribly corrupt and in the hands of a minority of political and economical elites, especially the Rourke family, who use their power to get away with regular [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] so [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil base]], so [[SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness vile]], so monstrous, they don't even know what a MoralEventHorizon ''is''. They get away with most of it, too, until eventually the working-class, downtrodden, impoverished underdog {{Anti Hero}}es defeat or murder them. * CaptainErsatz: Many of Sin City's characters are [[ShoutOut homages]] to previous characters from pulp fiction and film noir:** Marv was created as "[[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Conan]] in a trenchcoat."** Dwight is quite obviously based on Literature/MikeHammer.** Miller was always disappointed in ''Film/TheDeadPool'' (the movie, not the [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} comic character]]) so he wrote what he thought should be the real final case of [[Film/DirtyHarry Harry Callahan.]] Enter: John Hartigan.** The Yellow Bastard is a horrific case in that Creator/FrankMiller has admitted that he was based off of a grown-up (and deranged) version of the [[http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/YellowKid.jpg Yellow Kid]], the earliest comic book character and a very popular one for children at that time.* CardCarryingVillain: Most of them openly admit to being bad guys. Senator Roark and Ava Lord especially. Ava gleefully seduces men left and right for her own purposes and gives out an EvilLaugh because she knows she can get away with it. Senator Roark openly admits that he killed his wife and gloats that there isn't a damn thing anyone can do about it.* CarnivalOfKillers: ''Hell & Back'' features a guild of assassins.* CarpetRolledCorpse: One short story uses a subversion as a SecretTestOfCharacter in which two mooks are given an apparent body to dispose of, but forbidden to unwrap it. [[spoiler: It's rigged to explode when they do.]]* CastingGag: Ava and Julian and an estranged husband and wife. They're played by Eva Green and Martin Csokas, former lovers who had already broken up.** AlexisBledel plays a young woman with deep love and concern [[GilmoreGirls for her mother]].* CavalryBetrayal: When the Federal Agents arrive at the farm, Lucille naturally assumes that they are there to help and yells at them to not arrest Marv, as he's with her. Then they pour boxes of bullets into poor Lucille.* CelibateHero: When we first meet Dwight, he's trying to maintain this trope. He seems to do okay until Ava comes back in his life.* ChainedToABed: Blue Eyes chains herself to a bed in order to seduce Wallace. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]* ChewingTheScenery: There's quite a bit of it in the movie, but it works with the tone quite nicely.** Even the comic gets away with this somehow.%%* {{Chiaroscuro}}* ChristianityIsCatholic: The Catholic Church seems to be a big power player in the city, and crucifixes are a motif throughout the series. ''The Babe Wore Red'' also features a nun who is shown in a much more positive light than usual for ''Sin City''.* ChromaKey: Generally quite good in the movie, but a notable "jerkiness" occurs when Miho stabs several people through the head with her sword.* TheCityNarrows: The Red Light District is run by the whores. The police do not go in at all, if a police car gets to the edge of the red light district, it will turn away or around and go somewhere else.%%* CityNoir* ColdBloodedTorture: Marv is really fond of it, but only [[PayEvilUntoEvil towards bad guys]]. Examples include:** He amputates all of Kevin's legs and sicks Kevin's own wolfdog on him to eat him alive. Okay, Kevin was a cannibalistic serial killer, but still... brrr. Becomes AFateWorseThanDeath, but it didn't seem to bother Kevin much. He never screamed, just stared at Marv the whole time.** Cardinal Roark might have gotten it worse than Kevin, [[GoryDiscretionShot we don't know for sure what happened,]] but judging from Marv's narration he had the most "fun" with him.--->'''Marv:''' ''Kevin was damn frustrating but Roark's a pure joy. ... I stare the bastard in the face and I laugh as he screams to God for mercy and I laugh harder when he squeals like a stuck pig and when he whimpers like a baby I'm laughing so hard I cry. He spurts and gurgles and life is good.''** Marv also tortures and dismembers a cop, partially for information but mainly to avenge [[spoiler:Lucille.]]* [[TheTeaser Cold Open]]: The opening balcony scene.* ColonelBadass: The Colonel, the most dangerous hitman in Basin City.* CombatParkour: The gunfighters tend to have very standard action movie/crime noir moves except for Wallace. He tends to do a lot more hopping around and is probably the most skilled protagonist of the series.* ComfortingTheWidow: Mort, a mostly honest Sin City cop, tries to do this with Ava Lord and ends up tangled in her web.* ContinuityDrift: There are a couple of plot aspects in "The Hard Goodbye", that while not being straight up continuity errors, don't quite gell with the other stories. Goldie hooked up with Marv because she was looking for protection, and went to bars trying to find the biggest and meanest looking guy in them. Future stories show that she was the boss of the Old Town girls, a position that certainly would have allowed her the services of Miho, who might well be the most dangerous person in the series. Marv also says that with his looks, he was never able to buy a girl. In the other stories, the only requirement for hiring an Old Town girl is money, and they certainly don't come off as the type of group to turn a customer away just for being ugly.* ContinuityOverlap: The movie has this with "The Hard Goodbye" and "The Big Fat Kill", as both take place on the same night, both protagonists pass at the same bar, and several characters (such as the prostitutes) appear in both. [[spoiler:The same applies for Part 2 of "That Yellow Bastard" and "The Customer Is Always Right".]]* ConversationCasualty: In the opening scene, when Creator/JoshHartnett's character embraces the LadyInRed and confesses his love to her and then kills her with his silenced gun the very next moment.* CoolCar: Yet more AuthorAppeal; many characters drive classic American cars of various ages all in mint condition, to the delight of Marv and Dwight who both think modern cars look like electric shavers. The only modern cars treated with respect are European sports models like the AwesomeButImpractical Ferrari in which Shlubb proposes to smuggle Hartigan's body.** The 'Heap' owned by Nancy, and later, The Captain in ''Hell and Back'', is a 1957 Chevy Nomad, which is in such disrepair that only Nancy can keep it running, and the 1957 Thunderbird Dwight uses to take the bodies of Jackie Boy and his buddies to the local tar pits has been abused and neglected so much that it just barely holds together for the trip, has a broken taillight, and doesn't even have enough gas to make it.* CopKiller: Dwight kills his girlfriend's abusive ex-boyfriend, realizing too late that he's actually a cop. If the body is found, the fragile truce between the corrupt cops and the BandOfBrothels will be broken in the cops' favor, so they need to disfigure and get rid of it.* CorruptPolitician: Senator Roark.* CradlingYourKill: The Salesman does this in "The Customer is Always Right." WordOfGod states that the victim actually hired the assassin, and requested that he comfort her in her dying moments.%%* CrapsackWorld* CrazyJealousGuy: Jackie Boy* CreditsGag: Not only done in the movie but Miller manages to pull it off in the comic as well.* CreepyMonotone: Manute in the movie, more so with the sequel.* CripplingTheCompetition: After Johnny beats him at poker in "The Long Bad Night", Senator Roark breaks the fingers of his game hand with a pair of pliers. Shooting him in the knee is just an act of pure sadism.* CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: Claire, Lucille's psychiatrist girlfriend, according to Marv:--> "''She tried to analyze me once, but she got too scared.''"* CutHimselfShaving: Marv tells his mother this. (The scene was filmed for TheMovie, but it was deleted from the theatrical shot and can be viewed on the recut edition [=DVD=]). The scene was also in the comic.* DaddysGirl: In the appropriately titled, ''Daddy's Little Girl''.* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Hartigan. After despatching Shlubb and Klump, he tells himself to "think like a cop", he starts having chest pains and realises he probably won't be able to run after Junior, so he disables Junior's [[CoolCar 1962 Jaguar XK-E]], apparently by [[ArtisticLicenseCars removing two spark plugs]] (removing the ignition cables would have been more accurate and just as easy to depict), then makes sure Junior is thoroughly "[[GroinAttack disarmed]]", knows that Nancy will be safe when backup arrives and only has to live till then, and accepts his wrongful sentencing because it's the only way to protect everyone he loves. When he's released, he senses it's all been a trap and he's led Junior straight to Nancy, and every second he stayed in the bar, he put her in danger. Then, when he shoots Junior, he demands to confirm the kill. As he's sneaking onto the Farm, he mentions he'll use a knife first, plays dead to trick two guards, and tricks Junior by pretending to be too weak to lift his revolver, then stabbing him in the stomach and beating him to death.* DarkActionGirl: The assassin Blue Eyes. ** Miho and the girls of Old Town are anti-heroic versions.* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Kevin has the heads of six prostitutes mounted on the wall of his murder room. It may have been inspired by this already disturbing ad for [[http://i.huffpost.com/gen/254621/STUFFED-GIRLS-HEADS.jpg "Stuffed" Girl's Heads]].* DeadlyHug: A few times.%%* DeadpanSnarker* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Nancy kills Roark in the second film.]]* DeathByCameo: FrankMiller has a cameo in the movie.* DeathByDisfigurement: [[spoiler: Lucille]].* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The series is well known for its stark use of black and white, with no shading.* {{Delusions of Eloquence}}: Shlubb and Klump, the TropeNamers.* DestinationDefenestration: Dwight is punched through a window by Manute in their second encounter. Manute has the same done to him by Wallace in ''To Hell and Back''.* {{Determinator}}: All of the protagonists, but especially Hartigan could be the poster child of this: sixty years plus and feeling it, survives a heart attack, a hanging and having a revolver emptied in his back at close range. Every one of the incidents and each of the bullets ''should'' kill him, but he just keeps going.** Senator Roark says he does everything he can to save Hartigan, so that he can disgrace him.* DevilInPlainSight: Senator Roark mentions that he could get away with murder in public since he's done it in the past... to his own wife, even.* DirtyCop: About half the Basin City police force.--> '''Dwight''' "I don't have nearly enough money to bribe this cop, 'course there's always the chance he's one of the honest ones"* DirtyCoward: The Yellow Bastard both before and after his transformation is more likely to run away from a fight than stay.** Hartigan's former partner Bob is also quite cowardly since he is more willing to turn on his partner and threaten a child than he is about catching the real BigBad.** Shlubb and Klump can be pretty cowardly. Especially in the presence of Dwight since he beat up both of them throughout the one-shot ''The Babe Wore Red''.* DisposableLoveInterest: Goldie exists only to die in the first few pages of ''The Hard Goodbye'' and give Marv a reason for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.** Ava Lord has this attitude toward her lovers.* DisposableSexWorker: Somewhat averted. Goldie's death in ''The Hard Goodbye'' is used to set the plot in motion, but she is portrayed posthumously as a person of value, especially to Marv and her sister. In other stories, the prostitutes of Old Town tend to avoid getting offed by psychos due to their firepower. When one ''is'' offed, they respond in kind. * DoingItForTheArt: [[invoked]] Wallace is an artist who refuses to sell out dispite money problems. Dwight also had aspirations of being a photographer as opposed to a PI but they never came to be.* DomesticAbuser: Jackie Boy is an abusive boyfriend to Shellie... or was at least.* DontTellMama: In the comics Marv tries to keep his mother innocent of what his real purpose is when he goes to get Gladys. As well as Becky with respect to...well, you know.* DoorStopper: "Big Damn Sin City", a compilation of every ''Sin City'' yarn published to-date.* DownerEnding: Many of the short stories have one.* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Hartigan]] knows that his death is the only thing that can once and for all save the girl. He promptly shoots himself in the head.** [[spoiler:Mort]] after he shoots his partner dead and realizes too late how much [[spoiler:Ava]] has ruined his life.* DropDeadGorgeous: It's precisely this that sets Marv on his RoaringRampageOfRevenge to avenge Goldie's death. Notably they actually just had consensual sex, but her murderer killed her while Marv was still sleeping.* DropTheHammer: Kevin lays Marv out with a sledgehammer.* DrunkDriver: Jack Rafferty drives drunk in "The Big Fat Kill". He dies that night but it had nothing to do with his state, surprisingly. * DrunkenMaster: Marv admits he's more dangerous when he's drunk. In a later story, Dwight purposefully gets Marv "good and drunk" so he can be of better use in the upcoming fight.* TheDulcineaEffect: The extreme lengths Marv is willing to go to to avenge Goldie.* DullSurprise: One of the most significant-if subtle-differences between the comics and film is that dialogue that was shouted in the comic is usually spoken quietly in the film. For example, Senator Roark never yells at Hartigan, and Jackie-Boy never raises his voice despite his HairTriggerTemper.* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Marv looks much smaller in the first few pages of ''The Hard Goodbye'', apparently before Miller settled on characterizing him as a mountain of muscle.* EarnYourHappyEnding: Wallace and Esther. They are the only Sin City characters to get one.* EnormousEngine: Muscle cars pop up sometimes, engines exposed and all. Sometimes, the engine is not shown but described in explicit detail.* EmpathyDollShot: Done in a very literal way. Wallace is under the effects of a drug given to him by the bad guys. He finds a dead child in the trunk of a car but all we see is his hallucination: a Raggedy-Ann doll. He knows what the doll really is but actually expresses gratitude that the villains drugged him for that one moment.* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Marv and his mother.* EvenEvilHasStandards: WordOfGod says that Kevin hates Junior and thinks he's an abomination. Kevin will coexist with him, but will not help when Hartigan attacks the farm.** The corrupt cop Liebowitz has at times shown moments of kindness or morality, such as when he tries to warn Johnny not to beat Roark in poker, or when [[spoiler:he declares war on the Colonel]].%%* ExecutiveSuiteFight* ExploitationFilm: With a heavy dose of FilmNoir for good measure.* ExplosionPropulsion: Apparently Miho has the ability to RocketJump while taking no damage whatsoever.* ExpositionVictim: Happens off-screen when Kevin kidnaps Marv's parole officer.* {{Expy}}: Hartigan is an expy of Film/DirtyHarry according to WordOfGod* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: In ''A Dame to Kill For'', Dwight has [[ExaltedTorturer Marv]] help him rescue Ava. As Marv is beating up the [[{{Mook}} security guards]], he notices [[ScaryBlackMan Man]][[TheDragon ute]] (who had given Dwight a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown earlier) among them and yells "You! You're the bum who hurt my pal!", before tackling him through a window and beating the crap out of him. After the beatdown Marv sits beside Manute panting, he hears Manute gasp for breath, and [[CrossesTheLineTwice continues beating him up.]] It is later revealed he also [[EyeScream gouged out one of Manute's eyes.]]** Let this sink in for a second. Marv is a {{badass}} {{determinator}} who has shrugged off bullets, cars, and all manner of attacks on his person, has thrown people through walls, and has generally proven to be MadeOfIron and an ImplacableMan...and he beats Manute up so damn badly he ''tires himself out''.** ''That Yellow Bastard'' gives us the page quote for this trope. [[BadassGrandpa Police Detective John Hartigan]] saved 11-year-old Nancy Callahan from being raped and murdered by Roark, Jr., then was framed for the rape and spent eight years in prison. After Hartigan is released, Roark gets a hold of Nancy again and tortures her. Hartigan doesn't take it well.* EyeScream: Marv rips Manute's eye out of his socket. In most cases of this trope, this would be out of desperation. Not here. Marv just did it [[CrazyAwesome for the hell of it.]]* FaceDeathWithDignity:** Marv and Hartigan, the former of whom merely snarks at his own execution to annoy the guards, the latter of whom performs a HeroicSacrifice.** The [[Creator/MarleyShelton unnamed female character]] in the short story ''The Customer Is Always Right'' fits this trope as well, but it's implied that she put the hit on herself. According to Frank Miller, she took the hit out after breaking up with someone in the mafia, who swore vengeance.* FaceOnAMilkCarton: [[spoiler:The Colonel's fate at the end of ''Hell and Back''.]]* FairCop: In ''Family Values'', Dwight is hit on by a rather comely female officer. Since Dwight is at the moment on a mission for Old Town with the nearby and concealed [[ProfessionalKiller Miho]], who will kill the cop if anything goes wrong, he [[IncompatibleOrientation makes it seem like he's gay to blow her off]].* FacialMarkings: The hitman cop who visits the Roark farm in "The Hard Goodbye" has some pretty cool looking tattoos.* FallenHero: Jack Rafferty was once a hero cop nicknamed "Iron Jack". WordOfGod states that he used to be a good man but the corrupt system eventually ate away at him.* FamilyFriendlyStripper: Nancy in the movie.** Taken to the extreme in the sequel, where Nancy does normal stripper stuff like jumping the stage, spanking herself and getting on all fours yet the scene is played out as self-destructive behavior and Marv even leaves the bar disgusted by the raunchiness, even though it's pretty standard stripper stuff and she's not even topless.* TheFamilyThatSlaysTogether: The Roarks. Also, the unnamed family in ''Daddy's Little Girl'' (assuming they actually are related).* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: That Yellow Bastard. Hartigan ''tears his balls off with his bare hands'' before beating him to death.** Also Kevin, who is dismembered, graphically eaten by his pet wolf, and finally decapitated.** Any way Marv kills a person. One particular instance has him squeezing a man's head so hard it pops like a grape.* FanDisservice: That Yellow Bastard is also shown in full glory.* FanService:** A good number of attractive actresses get naked (or wear very little) in the name of art. Creator/CarlaGugino brandishes a gun topless and wears a thong, Creator/RosarioDawson is in her underwear, Creator/BrittanyMurphy is in nothing but panties and a button down shirt, and Creator/JessicaAlba is a stripper as well. In the comics, all of these characters are depicted naked at one point or another, even if their actresses weren't nude in the movie. We can also add Miho to the mix. Half of Ava's total screentime in the second film is without clothes. And Sally in the second film is ''always'' either topless or in lingerie. No other options.** Not to be outdone, the ladies are treated to Dwight getting naked in almost every one of his stories. Hartigan and Wallace also both get MaleFrontalNudity scenes.* FamousLastWords: That the best you can do, ya pansies?* FatAndSkinny: Mr. Shlubb and Mr. Klump.* FemmeFatalons: Ava, Blue Eyes, Mariah, the Old Town Girls, ''Daddy's Little Girl'', etc.* FingerInTheMail: Hartigan gets a severed finger in the mail instead of his usual letter from Nancy. [[spoiler: Junior couldn't find her, so he tricks Hartigan into tracking her down.]]* FingerLickinEvil* ForcedToWatch: Poor Lucille...* FragileSpeedster: As Marv proves, Kevin isn't so tough when he can't hop around.* FreezeFrameBonus: The date of Marv's trial and therefore the series' timeframe, which is in the '90s, can be seen on a newspaper if you freeze at the right point.* FreudianThreat: Shellie threatens to cut the manhood off of one of Jackie Boy's friends when he hits on her. A couple of pages later, Dwight holds Jackie at knife point and says he'll cut him in ways that would "make you useless to a woman."* FriendToPsychos: The Roark brothers to Junior and Kevin.* FullFrontalAssault: Dwight fights Manute in the buff in ''A Dame to Kill For'' and the Yellow Bastard engages Hartigan while naked at the end of his story.[[/folder]]

[[folder:G-L]]* GagNose: Otto the bartender. It borders on being a NonStandardCharacterDesign.* GeniusLoci: The general idea is that the city is the main character of the series. It's not uncommon for characters to talk about the city as if it were alive.* TheGhost:** We know that the third Roark brother is an attorney general but otherwise, he's only mentioned a couple times, never shows up in any stories, and [[NoNameGiven is not even named]]. The movie, understandably, [[ThirdOptionAdaptation did not mention him at all.]]** Kadie, owner of the eponymous Kadie's Club Pecos. Apparently an overweight transgender woman, she's never appeared in any issue.** Herr Wallenquist in the first movie. Finally seen in the sequel, played by Stacy Keach in heavy facial prosthetics making him unrecognizable and ugly.* TheGlomp: Just when Hartigan is hoping to sneak out before Nancy recognises him, she leaps off the stage and throws herself into his arms, letting Yellow Bastard know exactly who she is.* GoingByTheMatchbook: Hartigan, when looking for Nancy* {{Gonk}}: Marv, in-universe. Before Goldie, he states that he'd never even been able to buy a woman.* GoodGuyBar: Kadie's. Not so much of a ''Good Guy Bar'' as it is an ''AntiHero Bar'' since the main protagonists, Marv and Dwight, frequent the establishment. This is where a few major side characters work as well.* GoodIsNotNice: Many of the series' more ethical characters skirt (if not outright embrace) this trope. [[JustifiedTrope Perhaps justified,]] considering that Basin City is a pretty nasty place where most people are either victims or victimizers -- being neither of those, in this setting, seems to require a degree of hardassery. Again though, this [[GoodIsNotSoft isn't as clear]] in the first movie adaptation. * GoodOldFisticuffs:** Marv likes taking care of things this way.** Averted with Dwight who simply either uses guns or his martial arts to do a lot of flying kicks since he hates skinning his knuckles.%%* GoodScarsEvilScars* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Most characters smoke but the good guys usually have cigarettes while the bad guys chomp on cigars.* {{Gorn}}: Kevin's collection of severed hooker heads. Hartigan ripping out Junior's testicles. And several more incidents.* GoryDiscretionShot: Sometimes invoked... [[{{Gorn}} sometimes averted.]]* GreaterScopeVillain: Senator Roark and Mob Boss Wallenquist. The former is an immensely powerful and unashamedly CorruptPolitician who can get away with anything while the latter is an immensely powerful [[TheDon crime lord]] controlling most of the organized crime in the city. While both men are responsible for the greatest evils in Basin City and perpetuate the CrapsackWorld itself, neither would really qualify as the main villain in any of the stories. Their organizations and influence are so vast that they're usually concerned with larger matters than direct confrontation with the ([[AntiHero Anti-]])heroes.* GroinAttack:** Hartigan to Roark Jr., who certainly [[PayEvilUntoEvil deserved it]]. Twice.** Marv also shoves a hatchet into a cop's crotch and at one point, crushes Weeval's balls in order to get him to comply.** When he first meets Dwight, Manute gives him a good kick in the junk.* GunsAkimbo: Everyone wielding a gun (i.e ''everyone'') almost always ends up with two of them.* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: It's hard to tell because the comics are [[DeliberatelyMonochrome largely black and white]], but Nancy Callahan is canonically blonde. A young woman working herself through law school by working as a topless exotic dancer off hours, she's probably the kindest and most innocent character in the comics (WordOfGod calls her "an angel" living in a WretchedHive). She's acquainted with a lot of the major characters, who protect her from abusive or downright evil men out to hurt her.* HandCannon:** Hartigan uses a [[DirtyHarry Smith & Wesson Model 29]] in the beginning of the film. Later on he uses a Ruger Blackhawk, also a .44 Magnum.** Some of the Old Town prostitutes also use Blackhawks, noticeably Dallas.** The (likely fake)revolvers Nancy Callahan uses in her cowgirl outfit are stainless Blackhawks. In the sequel, Nancy uses a real gun (specifically Hartigan's old revolver) during her stage acts and isn't afraid to fire very real warning shots at any patron who grabs her.* HasAType: The Yellow Bastard has a type: little girls. He says that Nancy isn't his type now that ShesAllGrownUp... but he's willing to make an exception. Partly to hurt Hartigan, partly because she's TheOneThatGotAway.* HerBoyfriendsJacket: Shelly wears Dwight's shirt when Jackie Boy arrives at her apartment. He is not amused.%%* HereWeGoAgain* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler:At the end of ''That Yellow Bastard'', Hartigan kills himself so that no one will hurt Nancy to get at him.]]* HeroOfAnotherStory: Thanks to the fact that many stories feature Kadie's Bar many characters appear in each other's stories. Marv holds the record for most appearances for a protagonist, appearing in six stories while only being the protagonist of three. Dwight and John Hartigan both have a quick cameo outside of their own stories as well. Wallace is the only protagonist to only be seen in his own story.* HeroStoleMyBike: Marv is telling Nancy [[MoreDakka they need some tools]] to take on Roark's men, when three armed-to-the-teeth outlaw bikers turn up intent on tearing up the joint. Our anti-heroes quickly relieves them of their delusions, weaponry, and motorbikes. And their lives.* HolierThanThou: The Cardinal%%* HonorBeforeReason* HumiliationConga: Jack Rafferty's last night on Earth was a bit of a rough one, even by his own admission.* ICallItVera: Marv's pistol Gladys, named after the toughest nun he ever met. He thinks it has ''almost'' lived up to its name.* IfIDoNotReturn: Before his final confrontation with Kevin, Marv tells Wendy to leave if he doesn't come back in twenty minutes.* IgnoreTheFanservice: When Ava Lord of ''A Dame to Kill For'' allies with Wallenquist, he tells her, "I'll warn you once and only once, Mrs. Lord  do not flirt with me. I have no use for your charms."* ImAHumanitarian: Kevin [[spoiler:and Cardinal Roark, who occasionally joined in.]]* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Averted in many cases. Every hero has been pinned down or even clipped by {{Mooks}}. Shlubb and Klump, who are typically PluckyComicRelief badguys, even prove to be expert marksmen. There have also been a few unnamed snipers who proved to have decent aim.* ImplacableMan: All the heroes get this treatment but Marv is probably the main offender.* ImprobableAimingSkills: Miho, Wallace, and Dwight all get these moments.** Even Hartigan, as old as he is, is able to shoot a man's ear off with a crack shot.* InCaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt* InnocentInnuendo: In "Hell and Back", Wallace is in a car chase with Blue Eyes in the passenger seat. When the bad guys are about to open fire on them he tells her to get her head down, so she, well...* InformedAbility: Wallace is said to be a great artist, but we never see any of his work. This is to avoid the usual problems with this trope. If the audience never sees it, there's no need to worry about it living up to the readers' expectations.* InformedAttractiveness: Nancy is often seen as the most beautiful woman in Sin City. While she is drawn quite lovely, she doesn't seem to be all that different from say, Shellie, who looks very similar.* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Delia and Mariah express admiration for Wallace's combat abilities in ''To Hell and Back''.* InstantAwesomeJustAddNinja: Miho, the [[TheVoiceless silent]] ninja assassin.* {{Interquel}}: All four stories in ''A Dame to Kill For'' take place between "That Yellow Bastard" and "The Hard Goodbye" since [[spoiler: Marv is alive and well in each story.]] In the comics "Blue Eyes," "Wrong Turn," "Wrong Track," "Just Another Saturday Night," "Family Values" and "Hell and Back" were written as interquels, being published after the earliest and latest stories in the series timeline ("That Yellow Bastard" and "The Big Fat Kill").* IsThatTheBestYouCanDo: Marv asks Kevin this during their second fight. Kevin responds by planting his foot on Marv's face. [[spoiler: They also end up being Marv's last words, after the first shock from an electric chair fails to kill him.]]%%* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle* InternalRetcon: A recurring theme in the series is characters having to cover up what actually happened because of the disastrous consequences if the truth were known.* InterruptedSuicide: Wallace stopped Esther's suicide attempt.* InvincibleHero: Ex-Navy SEAL Wallace. While the other protagonists accomplish their goals by either taking a lot of punishment (Marv and Hartigan) or by having tons of back up (Dwight), Wallace almost single handily takes out every one in his way easily, with nary a scratch to show for it. He's also not held back by any particular moral standard like Marv's dislike of hitting girls. The only time he's seriously inconvenienced are when the bad guys manage to sneak up on him and tranq him.* InvulnerableKnuckles: Averted. Hartigan hurts his hand punching out his partner Bob, and Dwight later tries to avoid skinning his knuckles in a fight.* IOwnThisTown: The Roark Family* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:"Hell of a way to end a partnership."]]** "Deadly little Miho. You won't feel a thing. Not unless she wants you to."** "I take away his weapons... both of them."* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Marv is really fond of this. Amusingly, when the Old Town prostitutes try it on ''Marv'', he takes several blows from a .38 revolver used to PistolWhip him and explains himself. Then he calmly rips out of their ropes like they were tissue paper, and could have done so the whole time.* JerkJock: The story ''Just Another Saturday Night'' has a group of jerk jocks from a fraternity. This being Sin City, they don't stop at just being jerks, though. They like to light homeless people on fire.* JustOneMan: Despite all the political power and muscle with guns controlled by the Roark brothers and Ava Lord, each of them are taken down by one [[{{Determinator}} determined]] protagonist on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.%%* KangarooCourt* KarmaHoudini:** Subverted in the movie with [[spoiler:Becky]], who seemingly escapes with nothing but is killed by The Salesman in the movie's final scene. In the book her segment's based on, she dies along with everyone else.** Downplayed with Senator Roark. He may not get his comeuppance, but with Junior dead and Hartigan's suicide denying him revenge, he's still screwed. [[spoiler: By the movie ''A Dame To Kill For'', Roark's Karma Houdini meter runs out as his reputation is first ruined by his (literal) bastard son, then he's killed by Nancy for what he did to Hartigan.]]* KickTheDog: All the bad guys love to do this but special mention goes to Lucca from ''Family Values'' who shoots a dog [[spoiler: and ends up inciting a RoaringRampageofRevenge, a massive NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, and a MobWar.]]* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Kevin.* KnightInShiningArmor: The Salesman approaches a women outside of a party and tells here that he has come to help her face her troubles, and that he loves her. [[spoiler:Then he subverts it. He was never there to be her shining knight; she hired him to kill her in a delicate fashion because a mob figure threatened to brutally murder her after she broke up with him.]]%%* KubrickStare* LaserGuidedKarma: Despite the stories often ending with the hero dead or in dire straits, the bad guys usually get what they deserve before all is said and done. Even if they survive, they usually lose whatever they held dear. Case in point, [[spoiler: Senator Roark is still alive but he lost his son and has to live with the fact that the Roark family lineage is now cut. Considering this family has lorded over Sin City for more than a century, that's a letdown for him and his one surviving brother. And the film ''A Dame To Kill For'' takes this UpToEleven with Nancy killing Roark, effectively ending their reign over the city.]]** The short story ''Rats'' has a Nazi war criminal being shoved in an oven.* TheLastDJ: John Hartigan, the last honest cop in Sin City.* LightningBruiser: Marv is big and tough but he proves to be very fast and agile, as evident in his fights with the cops.* {{Lolicon}}: Junior is a particularly disturbing example of one of these, in that he likes to slash his victims to ribbons once he's done raping them, and he LovesToHearThemScream. It's quite telling that when he gets his hands on Nancy again, he says that she's "too old for him", despite her being nineteen years old at this point.* LittleUselessGun: Ava shoots Dwight with a .32. Marv tells him he'd be in trouble if she'd used "a real gun" on him. The .25 Dwight carries in the climax of ''A Dame To Kill For'' also counts, as the six shots it carries barely fazes Manute.* LocalHangout: Every main character hangs out at Kadie's these days. Even Roark, the BigBad goes there for his weekly poker game!* LotusPosition: Wallace meditates in this position to clear his mind.* LovesToHearThemScream: Junior.[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-R]]* MadBomber: The psychopathic Irish henchman in ''The Big Fat Kill''.* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler:"He made me WAAAAAAATCH!"]]* MadeOfIron: Marv and Kevin.* MagicRealism: It's in the crime genre but that doesn't stop it from dabbling slightly with mysticism (Miho, Kevin, the empathic elements of the Farm) or even light sci-fi (Yellow Bastard, the Colonel's operations). There was also the torture technician in ''Big Fat Kill'' who could cause pain with a simple touch. This was changed to Manute in the movie.** According to FrankMiller, Miho and Kevin are two sides of the same coin: he refers to them as the "demons" of Sin City, Miho being the "good demon," Kevin being "the bad." This is in reference to their silent, super-violent, sadistic natures, and the fact that both are incredibly difficult to harm.* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: There are quite a few bits in both movies where people with grievous injuries don't exactly react in a way you'd expect people to react. Stuka's reaction to being shot by an arrow through the chest in ''The Big Fat Kill'' is downright ''nonchalant''.%%* {{Malaproper}}* MaleGaze: ''The Big Fat Kill'' has a deliberate closeup shot of Becky's butt--in [[PaintedOnPants skintight leather pants, natch]]--that takes up a panel, when Jackie Boy is scoping her in his car.* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Cardinal Roark.* MayDecemberRomance: Nancy and Hartigan. He doesn't go so far as to actually sleep with her, since he understandably thinks he's way too old (around 65 at the end of the story) to enter a relationship with a 19-year old, but they do share several very passionate kisses and he describes her as "the love of my life" in his internal monologue. This is really a subversion, as Hartigan explicitly rejects the relationship due to the age difference. * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Hartigan's ghost appears multiple times during Nancy's story in ''Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'', which suggests that Nancy has gone insane over the four years since his death. [[spoiler:His mirrored reflection at the end of the movie which gives Senator Rourke a JumpScare suggests otherwise.]]%%* MeaningfulEcho* MegaCrossover: Several stories overlap and there has been at least one instance of protagonists teaming up: ''A Dame To Kill For''.* MetallicarSyndrome: Characters are often supposed to be hiding out from the cops or mafia, but when they choose rides, they usually get the CoolCar. This trope is actually justified in that '''most''' cars in the city are vintage muscle cars.* MobWar: One starts in ''Family Values''.* TheMole: [[spoiler:Becky]].* MonsterMisogyny: Most of Sin City's male villains are some form of misogynistic scumbag, to the point that in ''A Dame to Kill For'', [[spoiler:Ava plays on Dwight's violent protectiveness of women in general by casting her perfectly innocent husband as one of these in her WoundedGazelleGambit]].* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: This always happens when Dwight teams up with deadly little Miho. Dwight is a brooding noir hero who can hold his own in a fight. Miho is an extremely agile and deadly Old Town assassin, probably the most dangerous character in the books. Dwight tends to stand back while she slaughters whole groups of enemies in front of him.* MoreDakka: This is what the ''Big Fat Kill'' refers to. [[spoiler: Dwight and the Old Town girls unload on Manute and his men until they're just "wet chunks of meat."]]* MrFanservice: While the series is known for its [[MsFanService alluring female characters]], almost every male protagonist has a nude scene and there are plenty of {{Shirtless Scene}}s as well. Not to be outdone, while the movie avoids MaleFrontalNudity due to {{Double Standard}}s in the movie industry, the male leads are played by the likes of BruceWillis and Clive Owen.* TheMurderAfter: Marv and Goldie.* MurderInc: The Colonel's organization specializes in contract killing next to human trafficking.* MurderSuicide: Hartigan commits suicide after killing Roark, Jr., realizing that he's the only link left leading to Nancy (the latest victim). By killing himself, he ensures that she is left alone.* MyCarHatesMe: Subverted with Nancy's car, which waits until [[spoiler:Yellow Bastard's taking her away]] to break down. This is because she's the only one who knows how to get it working right. Played straight with the car Gail provides to Dwight to dispose of [[spoiler: Jackie Boy]] and his crew. The trunk is too small to hold all the bodies and it runs out of gas before he reaches the tar pits.* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Happens to Mort after his obsession with Ava Lord causes him to shoot his partner Bob in ''A Dame to Kill For''. The realisation leads to him [[AteHisGun eating his gun]].%%* MyNameIsInigoMontoya* NamedByTheAdaptation: In "Nancy's Last Dance" it's revealed that Roark Jr's first name was Ethan, which is also presumably the name of his father, Senator Roark. Wallenquist's first name is also mentioned to be Alarich by Ava.* NarrativeProfanityFilter: Not usually, but in "The Big Fat Kill" Dwight says that Gail "Lets out with a string of curses that'd kill the Pope".* NaziHunter: [[FanNickname The Janitor]], in "Rats", hunts down a Nazi war criminal. This may or may not have taken place in Sin City.* NaziProtagonist: The POV character in the two-page short story "Rats" is an escaped Nazi war criminal who served in an extermination camp. "Rats" is what he called the Jews he murdered there. At the end he is killed by a NaziHunter.%%* NeckSnap* NecroNonSequitur: In ''Family Values'', a mob hitman machine-guns a passing dog ForTheEvulz while he on a job, causing a DisasterDominoes effect when [[spoiler: a stray bullet accidentally kills an Old Town girl. The girl's lover, also an Old Town girl, has Dwight and Miho systematically bring down the entire crime family, even going so far as to force the hitman to kill his own brother and betray TheDon. The girl's lover comes in during the last act and guns down the mafia heads, including the hitman who killed her girl. To cover their tracks, the heroes frame the Wallenquist crime family, inciting a MobWar which would surely result in even more deaths.]]* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The biggest example is Dwight beating up Jack Rafferty at the beginning of ''The Big Fat Kill''. If he hadn't, not only would Jack be alive but Old Town would've been much safer.** Another Dwight example is from ''A Dame To Kill For''. [[spoiler: Dwight kills Ava's husband, but that just means that Ava will now be in control of his organization and will pin everything on him.]]** Hartigan's actions at the beginning of ''That Yellow Bastard'' also count. [[spoiler: He ends up exposing Nancy, leading Junior right to her.]]* NiceJobGuidingUsHero: The Hartigan example mentioned above.* NighInvulnerability: Marv goes several days without eating or sleeping, gets run over by a car many times in a row, gets shot, slashed, kicked around, hit with a sledgehammer, and more in the span of one story and still manages to bring down one of the most powerful men in the world.* NightmareFuel: Invoked. Marv did not allow Wendy to see him torturing and killing Kevin, because she would have nightmares about that. * NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where the hell is Basin, anyway?]]* NoDialogueEpisode: ''Silent Night'' only has a single word balloon.* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: The Yellow Bastard's appearance completely changes due to the medical procedures that made him whole again, but his voice has remained the same.-->'''Yellow Bastard:''' Remember my voice Hartigan, you piece of shit cop?* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Hartigan pays so very dearly for saving Nancy.* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Hartigan to Yellow Bastard.** Marv to... everyone. The exception being Kevin.** Miho to everyone, but particularly Jackie Boy.** Wallace to everyone.** As for villain examples, Manute delivers one against Dwight and, as implied above, Kevin gives one to Marv.* NonFatalExplosions: In the short story "Fat Man and Little Boy", Shlubb triggers a bomb planted by their employers to punish them for past failures. They're frazzled by the explosion, but are okay otherwise.* NonNaziSwastika: Japanese assassin Miho throws a large shuriken in the shape of a manji.* NotQuiteDead: Marv and Miho both have scenes where they surprise people by still being alive.** Jackie Boy goes through this a bit before fully dying. It's [[ColdBloodedTorture intentional by Miho.]]* NoShirtLongJacket: Dwight in ''Big Fat Kill''.* NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay: [[spoiler: At the end of "Nancy's Last Dance", Senator Roark has Nancy dead-to-rights. Before he can shoot her, John Hartigan's reflection appears in his mirror. This distracts Roark long enough for Nancy to grab her gun and shoot Roark.]]* TheNthDoctor: The sequel, based around "A Dame to Kill For" (Dwight's "pre-facial surgery prequel" story), starred Josh Brolin instead of Clive Owen. Owen was supposed to play Dwight again after surgery, but his schedule prohibited it, so they used prosthetics and makeup to make Brolin look as much like him as they could.* OffingTheOffspring: Senator Roark does this without hesitation to his illegitimate son Johnny for beating him at poker twice and ruining his image.* OffWithHisHead: Miho is fond of this.* OhCrap: When Dwight realizes that Jackie Boy is a cop, and later, Manute and his men when they realize Dwight tricked them into an ambush. Also Becky in the film, when the Salesman tracks her down.** Becky still has that reaction when she gets gunned down in the comics, and when she realizes that Manute [[ILied wasn't going to let her live after all.]]** Shlubb and Klump too.---> I can only express puzzlement that borders on alarm.* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: Hartigan vs Roark Jr.* OnceIsNotEnough: "I take his weapons away. Both of them." And he does this ''twice''.* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Major characters are often hanging out in the background. In some cases, this is used to show that two major stories are happening at once.* OnlyOneName: ''Everyone''. The setting is "[[WretchedHive down there]]", after all. If we learn someone's full name (such as Nancy Callahan), chances are good they're one of the extremely rare honest men or innocent women in the city.* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Clive Owen as Dwight. Most audible in "Dammit Gail, not right now."%%* OtherStockPhrases* OutsideRide: ** Marv hopped onto the back of a getaway car in ''Just Another Saturday Night'' and found himself on the hood of a cop car a few seconds later.** In ''Family Values'' Miho rollerbladed after a car, hitched onto the bumper, then climbed into the trunk without the mobsters knowing it.** Dwight attempted this in ''A Dame To Kill For'', but failed.** In the first Sin City tale, Marv subverted this by actually hurling himself through the windshield of a cop car as opposed to just hanging on.* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler: Such is the case in the short story ''Daddy's Little Girl.'' Although its unclear if they really are related, or it's just a fetish.]]* PayEvilUntoEvil: A hallmark of the series in general.* PercussivePrevention: [[spoiler:Lucille to Marv and Marv to Wendy]].* PistolWhipping: Wendy does this to Marv during his interrogation, and gets lectured on proper techniques by Marv.* PlayAlongPrisoner: Marv, bound by Gail, plays along with an interrogation until his captors understand he wasn't the one who killed the missing girls. Then he just gets up and shrugs off the ropes. * PluckyComicRelief: ** Shlubb and Klump are usually the only bright spot in a story if they show up.** Of all characters, Marv has been used as this when he shows up in [[TheCameo brief cameos]] at Katie's Bar, as opposed to taking a larger role.* PocketProtector: [[spoiler:Jackie-Boy's badge stops a sniper bullet meant for Dwight's heart]].* PoliceBrutality: Hartigan being interrogated by Liebowitz.** The cops have similar techniques against Marv.** Averted when cops try to beat up Wallace for little reason. The keyword is '''[[BadAss try]]'''.* PragmaticAdaptation: Arguably one of the best examples in a comic book movie. The stories are mostly frame-by-frame adaptations, right down to the cinematography. However, a ''lot'' of narration is chopped out, either in small trimmings (removing a fair bit of Frank Miller's [[SignatureStyle infamous use of repetition]]) or in entire ''pages'' worth of backstory, commentary, etc that would have bogged the movie down. It's done so smoothly that it's not noticeable unless you read along to the movie.** A pragmatic example: In the book, Marv escapes from a cell by bull-rushing the door, slamming into it with his shoulder, over and over and over again, until he finally jars the bolt loose from the wall. This is implied to take at least an hour. Since this would have slowed down the movie intolerably, he instead simply wrenches the window bars out of the frame.* PreAssKickingOneLiner:-->'''Cop''': Sir, there's no sign of the target.-->'''Marv''': [[AxCrazy Here's]] [[GroinAttack a]] [[ShareTheMalePain sign]].* PrecisionFStrike: Despite all of its many taboos, the comic is pretty [[GoshdangItToHeck tame in terms of language]]. The one and only F-Bomb comes from Lebowitcz when he [[spoiler: shoots the Colonel]] and says, "Make a missing person's case out of this fucker."** The last line of the second film, right before [[spoiler: Nancy kills Senator Roark.]]-->"This is for John Hartigan, fucker."%%* PrettySpryForADeadGuy* PrisonEpisode: Both movie and comic versions include a very existential-looking prison for John Hartigan.%%* PrivateEyeMonologue* ProfessionalKiller: Both hitmen and assassins show up. Hitmen are sent after Marv early on in The Hard Goodbye; Shlubb and Klump are specifically described as "low-rent killers" but are often just errand boys for the baddies. Miho and Kevin are used as assassins but they're in it for more than money. The Colonel (''The Salesman'' in the movie) has a guild of assassins.* PsychoForHire: A good number of people, including one ''good guy''.* PunctuatedPounding: [[spoiler:EIGHT! LONG! YEARS! YOU! SON! OF! A! BITCH!]]* PyrrhicVictory: Marv avenges Goldie, but is captured by the police, blamed for the murders committed by Kevin as well as by him and finally executed in the electric chair.* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The IRA mercs and the small group of thugs led by Manute.* RageAgainstTheReflection: In Sin City: A Dame To Kill For episode "Nancy's Last Dance", Nancy Callahan punches the mirror twice because she's depressed by Hartigan's suicide.* RammingAlwaysWorks: Marv rams the frat boys' car multiple times in ''Just Another Saturday Night'' to get them off the road and doesn't mind running straight into armed foes more than once.** Averted when Dallas rams the IRA members' car in ''Big Fat Kill''. Dwight remarks that she is too excited and careless. This leads to Dallas getting shot to death, Miho getting caught by a grenade, and Dwight almost getting killed.* RasputinianDeath: Kevin and Marv.** In ''The Yellow Bastard'', we see type 2 and 3. [[spoiler: While Junior was probably going to die after the initial stabbing, he goes on to have his balls ripped off and his head caved in for good measure. Hartigan had [[{{Revenge}} his reasons.]]]]* ReadyForLovemaking: Ava Lord turns up naked in Dwight's bed. Despite all common sense telling Dwight otherwise, she successfully seduces him again.%%* RedemptionInTheRain* RedEyesTakeWarning: Dwight describes Marv's eyes as going "killer red" when he recruits him in ''A Dame to Kill For''. The film version has them turning red in the same scene.* RedOniBlueOni: Mariah and Blue Eyes, the assassins in the Colonel's Guild, although we never see them together.* RedLightDistrict: Old Town.* RedRightHand: Manute has a fake eye. The Yellow Bastard has, well... yellow skin.* {{Retirony}}: Hartigan. On the last hour of his last day, no less.%%* {{Retraux}}* {{Retronym}}: The very first Sin City story was titled just that... Sin City. The series caught on, resulting in future stories containing secondary titles (i.e. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For). Even when the original story was first collected in a trade paperback format, it retained its original title. Word Of God gave it the nickname The Hard Goodbye and that's what Fanon called it when discussing this particular story. When the movie came out, the collected editions added this title. Likewise, this particular sequence in the movie shares the same title. It resulted in a slightly awkward line, however. Every story name drops its own title but this one never contained the line "the hard goodbye" since that wasn't its original name. The line was added to the dialogue in the movie.* RoadBlock: A minor occurrence in the first story (also depicted in the movie). The cops are chasing Marv on foot through the hotel. He drops out of the window and tries to go down the alley, only to see a cop car heading him off, blocking his way. He ends up jumping through the windshield to beat up the drivers and subsequently, take the car.* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: ''The Hard Goodbye'' and the end of ''That Yellow Bastard''. All of ''Hell And Back.'' FrankMiller loves this trope.** While it's not obvious at first, the story [[spoiler: ''Family Values'']] also ends up invoking this.* RobbingTheDead: Dwight sifts through Jackie Boy's wallet after the latter was killed by Miho. He finds a wad of cash (which he puts in his own pocket)... And Jack's police badge. ** Marv also takes some money off of the hitmen who ambush him in Kadie's bar.%%* RocketJump* RollerbladeGood: Miho uses this to [[CrazyAwesome race after a speeding car]] in ''Family Values''.[[/folder]]

[[folder:S-Z]]* SayYourPrayers: In ''Family Values'', one of the mobsters about to be massacred starts doing this.* ScaryBlackMan: Manute.* ScaryShinyGlasses: Kevin.* TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction: How Marv and Goldie meet. Subverted in that she dies instead of him, due to some very bad people being after her.* ScopeSnipe: Wallace does this in ''Hell and Back''.* SeenItAll: When the DA threatens Marv's mother to force him to sign a confession, Marv casually breaks his arm in three places and then signs. The watching police interrogator just shakes his head.* SelfRestraint: Before he goes back to Ava, Dwight struggles with this.** Wallace fits this as well since he's probably the most calm protagonist in the series.** Hartigan has to employ this to keep himself from sleeping with Nancy.* SerialKiller:** Kevin from ''The Hard Goodbye'', who also practices cannibalism.** Roark Jr. from ''That Yellow Bastard''. Who also doubles as a SerialRapist of pre-teen girls.** In the short story ''Behind Door Number Three'' there's such a killer who [[DisposableSexWorker likes to go after prostitutes]]. The girls from Old Town give him a ''very'' karmic punishment when they introduce him to their private assassin Miho.* SeriesContinuityError: ''The Big Fat Kill'' takes place after ''Hell and Back'', but Dwight is seen driving the [[CoolCar 1953 Cadillac Eldorado]] he took from Vito at the end of ''Family Values'', a story that takes place well after both ''The Big Fat Kill'' and ''Hell and Back''.** The sequel, ''A Dame to Kill For'' creates a rather glaring one: [[spoiler: Nancy, who is having a SanitySlippage, badly scars her face when she decided to quit her job as a stripper. Not a big problem, except in the the ''Sin City'' segment from the first movie, which chronologically takes place after the new one, she is unscarred and still a stripper.]]* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Shlubb and Klump to the point of having DelusionsOfEloquence.* SheIsAllGrownUp-->'''Hartigan:''' Skinny little Nancy Callahan. She grew up. She filled out.* [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]: Happens to several of the women of the Sin City verse, particularly [[spoiler:Goldie and Lucille]].* ShotInTheAss: An unfortunate bartender in the backstory to "Family Values."* ShoutOut: As mentioned in the Captain Ersatz section, there are many shout outs:** Marv names his gun, much like ComicBook/MikeHammer does in some versions.** Nancy's last name is Callahan, which is the same last name of a certain iconic [[Film/DirtyHarry movie cop.]] She also refers to her car as "this heap" which is something ComicBook/MikeHammer would often do.** ''The Hard Goodbye'' is the name later given to the first Sin City story. Creator/RaymondChandler wrote a Literature/PhilipMarlowe novel called ''Film/TheLongGoodbye''.** In ''Hell and Back'' there is a brief narration by Leibowitz's son that is in the style of romance comics from the 50's.** Also in ''Hell and Back'', the main character is drugged and we see the only full color sequence in the series. The hero has hallucinations of the following: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Franchise/{{Rambo}}, Film/DirtyHarry, ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}, Comicbook/TheBigGuyAndRustyTheBoyRobot, Manga/LoneWolfAndCub, Franchise/RoboCop, Comicbook/SgtRock, [[WesternAnimation/RaggedyAnnAndAndyAMusicalAdventure Raggedy-Ann and Andy]], a Creator/DrSeuss landscape, ComicBook/{{Ronin}}, ComicBook/{{Electra}}, [[ComicBook.ThreeHundred a Spartan]], a Hajime Sorayama {{Fembot}}, and more.** Marv's profile is almost identical to ComicStrip/DickTracy's famous profile.** One of the barflies that harass Marv in "A Dame to Kill for" is wearing a t-shirt that says ComicBook/{{Hellboy}} on it.** One of the prostitutes of Old Town dresses like a sexy Franchise/{{Zorro}}.* SignsOfDisrepair: In at least one instance, a now entering sign is shown outside the city "Basin City" with the B and A degraded.* SilentScapegoat: Marv* SimultaneousArcs: ''A Dame To Kill For'' takes place during both ''The Hard Goodbye'' and ''Blue Eyes''. ''That Yellow Bastard'' takes place at least partially during the course of ''Just Another Saturday Night''.* SinisterMinister: Cardinal Roark as well as the priest Marv interrogates and kills.* SkinnyDipping: Ava Lord does this in ''A Dame to Kill For", putting on a show for Dwight.* SlippedTheRopes: Marv combines this with BreakingTheBonds.* SmashToBlack: [[spoiler:How Senator Rourke is finished off in ''Sin City: A Dame to Kill For''. We don't see Nancy pulling the trigger, but we hear the gunshot just as the screen goes to black.]]* SnowMeansDeath: Hartigan.* SociopathicHero: Several of the main characters skirt this trope, but ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subvert]] it.* SplashOfColor: That Yellow Bastard (and his blood) are constantly colored yellow after the prologue. Other stories, like "Blue Eyes" and "The Babe Wore Red" featured similar use of color. The movie added splashes of color to stories that didn't have them in print, more due to technical issues than artistic choice.* StairwellChase: Marv's escape from the apartment building.* StrayShotsStrikeNothing: Averted. In ''Family Values'', the RoaringRampageOfRevenge is to avenge a woman killed by stray bullets from a hitman taking potshots at a stray dog.* SuicideMission: This is a recurring idea in the comics, where almost every mission is said to be one in which the hero could easily be killed. Considering the AnyoneCanDie structure of the narrative, it isn't far-fetched to believe that they really will meet their end.* SuperWindowJump: When Marv goes to fight Kevin again, he throws a can of gasoline with a burning rag in it into the Roark farmhouse. Kevin jumps through the window a split second before the gas ignites.* {{Swirlie}}: Marv is seen interrogating one man by shoving his head in a toilet. Another time Dwight sneaks up on Jackie while he's taking a leak and shoves his head into the toilet, holding him there long enough until he's forced to take a few gulps.* SwitchingPOV: Every story has a different protagonist but aside from that, there's a brief sequence in ''Hell And Back'' where Liebowitz's son is the narrator.* SwordCane: Giacco Magliozzi draws one out to punish a minion, but Dwight stops him from doing so.* TeethFlying: Dwight knocks out Shlubb's protuding lower tooth in "The Babe Wore Red". He has it back in the next chronological story he appears in.* TerroristsWithoutACause: The ex-IRA mercenaries sent to kill Dwight.* TestosteronePoisoning: And ''how''!* ThatOneCase: Roark Junior.* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill:** Manute and his men are machine gunned to death with an endless hail of bullets. The story's called ''The Big Fat Kill'' for a reason.** The death of [[spoiler: Junior]] involves being stabbed in the chest, [[GroinAttack manually castrated]] (again) and stomped to mush by the hero.* ThisBedOfRoses: When Dwight [=McCarthy=] is on the run from the cops, the girls from Old Town heal him and let him stay.* TheMagicPokerEquation: Happens twice in two poker games between Johnny and Senator Roark. They seem to pull their very impressive hands right out of nowhere.* ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels: In "That Yellow Bastard", Nancy reveals to Hartigan that she fell in love with him because he rescued her, and makes a pass at him. He rejects her, because he first met her when she was still a child.-->'''Hartigan:''' God! There's wrong, and there's wrong, and then there's ''this''!* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Shlubb and Klump.* ThrillerOnTheExpress: "Wrong Track".* TitleDrop: Sin City is mentioned in every story for obvious reasons but even then, the secondary titles are always dropped as well (i.e. "The Big Fat Kill" "That Yellow Bastard", "Blue Eyes", etc.)* TooDumbToLive: Jackie Boy and the mob enforcer from ''Family Values'' both made the mistake of using [[DeathByRacism racial slurs]] towards Miho.** A neo-Nazi once insulted the bar tender at Kadie's. Marv asked her if he should step in but she told him to remain calm. Dwight mentioned that Marv was in an "all too generous mood". The Nazi then began to insult the bar tender some more. Marv voiced his displeasure but maintained his cool. The thug [[TemptingFate then decided it was a good idea to shove a pistol in Marv's face.]] It didn't end well for him.* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Wendy and Goldie.* TortureCellar: Kevin's basement.* TortureTechnician: Kevin, also Roark Jr., but with less horror.** There is also Davis, the torture expert in ''The Big Fat Kill'', who can inflict pain just by touching people. This character was changed to Manute in the movie.* TragicHero: Several of the protagonists.** While Marv kills Kevin and Cardinal Roark, the men responsible for Goldie's murder, he is convicted of the murders Kevin committed and is [[spoiler: executed]].** Hartigan, one of the few honest cops in the city, is arrested after saving a little girl from Roark Jr., a vicious child rapist and murderer who is the son of a powerful politicion. In the end he commits suicide to protect her.* TrenchcoatBrigade: Every one of the protagonists.** Also a few villains.* UnproblematicProstitution: Partly justified in that the Old Town prostitutes are self-employed, unionised and ''heavily armed.'' Averted with one particular character, who [[DontTellMama doesn't want her mother to know]] what she does for a living and is desperate for a way to get out of the game.* UnwantedSpouse: Ava Lord in ''A Dame To Kill For'' starts off hating her mafia-tied husband and begs Dwight to do something about it. [[spoiler: He does but it turns out to be a setup for Ava to inherit her husband's estate.]]* UrbanLegends: The Colonel has many operations going, two of which, involve {{snuff film}}s and OrganTheft.* TheVamp: Ava Lord. Very much Ava Lord.** Also, Blue Eyes, Mariah, and "Daddy's Little Girl" to a lesser degrees.* VaporTrail: Marv does this to a wrecked car in ''Just Another Saturday Night''.* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Highly averted when characters enact revenge, they often remark how good it feels.* TheVillainKnowsWhereYouLive: The assistant district attorney finally gets Marv to confess to the murders actually committed by Kevin and Cardinal Roark (and their murders, which he was guilty of) by turning off the recorder and showing him a picture of his mother in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle. Marv breaks his arm in three places, but signs. * VillainProtagonist: The following stories. The others usually feature dark [[AntiHero anti-heroes]].** The "Blue Eyes" stories, in which the protagonist is a ProfessionalKiller pursuing her marks.** "The Salesman Is Always Right", in which the Salesman is revealed at the end to have come to murder the woman he strikes up a conversation with.** "Rats" centers on an escaped Nazi war criminal who is living incognito in the United States, and [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims reminisces]] about all the people he murdered during the war.* VillainBallMagnet: Marv just wants to be left alone but he will always end up in trouble with someone. Usually this is just a drunk bar patron [[TooDumbToLive looking for a fight.]] And sometimes it's [[TheMafia the Roark family]].* VillainByDefault: Many of the villains.* TheVoiceless: Kevin and Miho.* WasntThatFun: This happens mid-chase in ''A Dame to Kill For''. Dwight [=McCarthy=] has just been betrayed, is bleeding to death, is being chased by cops, and has Marv behind the wheel of the getaway car. The entire situation is harrowing for him to say the least but Marv quips how fun the situation is.* WhatADrag: "I don't know about you, but I'm having a ball."* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Marv blacks out a lot due to unnamed mental problems. This is most notable in ''Just Another Saturday Night'' where he has to sit down and remember the events of the night in order to figure out why he's surrounded by dead bodies.* WhatTheHellHero: Lucille gives Marv one of these when he reveals that he beat up a group of cops.* WifeBasherBasher: Marv.* [[ManBitesMan Woman Bites Woman]]: Gail to [[spoiler:Becky]] in "The Big Fat Kill," nearly ripping her throat out, after learning that [[spoiler:she sold Gail and the other girls out to the mob]] to protect her own neck.--> '''Gail:''' Your neck, your neck, your precious little neck...%%* WorldHalfEmpty%%* WorldOfBadass%%* WorldOfBuxom* WouldntHitAGirl: One of Marv's only rules. The only time he breaks it is to [[spoiler:spare Wendy from watching him torture Kevin to death]].* WorthIt: Marv's quest to avenge Goldie results in [[spoiler:his death, along with some pretty brutal baseball bat torture, being riddled with bullets and the death of Lucille.]] Considering the person he was avenging only slept with him for protection and felt nothing for him some might wonder if it was all worth it. But Marv? When he gets confused and sees Wendy as Goldie he proudly says "I got him for you ''good'', didn't I?" For him it was completely worth it and he'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.* WoundedGazelleGambit: [[spoiler:Ava uses Dwight's violent protectiveness toward women in general to manipulate him into murdering an innocent man]].** [[spoiler:Ironically, Dwight does the same thing to Marv when he recruits him to help rescue Ava. Marv, who WouldntHitAGirl, is absolutely ''enraged'' when Dwight tells him how Ava is being tortured at the hands of her husband. Dwight knows he's manipulating Marv, but doubts Marv would really care anyways.]]** Hartigan does it too. [[spoiler:He apparently collapses when confronting the Yellow Bastard the second time, to lure him in close. This also causes Junior to let go of Nancy, who Hartigan was presumably worried about hitting.]]** Nancy does it the second film. She cuts her own face and then tells Marv the Roarks did it, knowing that Marv will be so enraged he'll help her attack them. Knowing Marv, he probably would have helped if she just asked.* WretchedHive: Duh.* XMarksTheHero: Hartigan is a shining example of this.* YouCanBarelyStand: Subverted by Hartigan [[spoiler:the first time]]: "''You can't even lift that cannon''" -- "''Sure I can.''"** [[spoiler: Not that Junior learned his lesson the second time around, either.]]* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Ava Lord guns down [[TheDragon Manute]], even through he's completely loyal and worships her, offering to let Dwight take his place.* YourSoulIsMine: Kevin was a SerialKiller who [[ImAHumanitarian ate his victims]], all female prostitutes. Cardinal Roark, who supported him and joined in, claimed that he ate not only their bodies, but their souls as well, which would "fill him with light" and feel close to God. The story makes it clear that they're just delusional though.[[/folder]]